By    RUDOLF  EUGKEN 

Senior  Professor  of  Philosophy  in  the  University  of  Jena 


The  Truth  of  Religion 

The  Life  of  the  Spirit 

Religion  and  Life 


Dr.  Rudolf  Eucken 


Religion  and  Life 


By 

Rudolf  Eucken 

1 

Professor  of  Philosophy,  University  of  Jena 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  and  London 
fmicfcerbocfcer   press 
1912 


Ube  ftnfcfcerbocfccr  press,  flew 


PREFACE 

'"THE  Lecture,  "  Religion  and  Life,"  by 
Professor  Rudolf  Eucken,  was  deliv- 
ered in  German  at  Essex  Hall,  London, 
on  Wednesday,  June  7,  1911,  and  repeated 
at  Manchester  College,  Oxford,  on  the  fol- 
lowing Friday,  where  it  was  reported  by 
Mr.  Gustav  F.  Beckh,  Ph.D.,  a  student  of 
the  College.  After  the  MS.  had  been 
corrected  by  Professor  Eucken,  the  trans- 
lation was  kindly  undertaken  by  Dr. 
Beckh. 

The  outline  of  the  Lecture,  circulated 
beforehand,    is   here   reprinted;   but    Dr. 


iv  Preface 

Eucken  departed  to  some  extent  from  this 
outline  in  the  actual  delivery  of  his  lecture. 

The  Rev.  W.  Tudor  Jones,  Ph.D.,  con- 
tributed the  following  brief  biographical 
sketch: 

"Rudolf  Eucken,  who  visits  England  for 
the  first  time,  was  born  at  Aurich,  East 
Friesland,  January  5,  1846.  He  lost  his 
father  when  quite  a  child.  His  mother, 
a  woman  of  deep  religious  experience,  was 
the  daughter  of  a  Liberal  clergyman.  At 
the  High  School  one  of  the  masters — the 
theologian  Reuter — interested  him  greatly 
in  religion.  Religion  became  of  absorbing 
interest  to  him  when  quite  a  boy;  and  this 
interest  increased  in  significance  with  his 
classical  and  philosophical  training.  He 
studied  at  the  Universities  of  Gottingen 


Preface  v 

and  Berlin.  Lotze  was  Professor  of  Phi- 
losophy at  Gottingen  and  Trendelenburg 
at  Berlin.  Trendelenburg  influenced  him 
deeply — indeed,  settled  the  direction  of 
his  future  course  in  life.  After  graduating 
as  Doctor  of  Philosophy  at  Gottingen,  he 
spent  five  years  as  a  High  School  teacher. 
In  1871,  he  was  appointed  Professor  of 
Philosophy  at  the  University  of  Basel;  in 
1874,  he  succeeded  Kuno  Fischer  at  Jena. 
And  notwithstanding  several  calls  to  larger 
Universities,  it  is  in  the  " little  nest"  of 
Goethe  and  Schiller  he  has  chosen  to 
remain.  His  philosophical  works  are 
widely  known;  his  pupils  are  found  from 
Iceland  in  the  North  to  New  Zealand  in  the 
South,  from  Japan  in  the  East  to  Britain 
and  America  in  the  West.  Those  who 


vi  \?reface 

have  had  the  privilege  of  knowing  him — 
and  his  home  is  always  open  to  his  students 
— are  not  ever  quite  the  same  afterwards 
and  can  never  forget  him. 

"In  the  year  1908,  Professor  Eucken  was 
awarded  the  Nobel  Prize  for  Literature. 
His  books  have  been  translated  into 
several  European  languages;  his  greatest 
work — The  Truth  of  Religion — has  just 
been  published. " 


Religion  and  Life 


OUTLINE  OF  THE  LECTURE 

1.  IN  placing  Religion  and  Life  in  close 
mutual  relation  we  are  not  concerned  with 
practical  and  social  life,  but  with  life  in 
its  broadest   sense,   including   the   whole 
field  of  science.     Our  problem  is  really 
confined  to  this,  whether  in  this  life  it  is 
possible  to  rise  above  merely  human  exist- 
ence, whether  we  can   discern  in  it   the 
activity  of  a  Power  at  once  encompassing 
and  transcending  the  world. 

2.  This    question    we   answer   in    the 
affirmative  with  entire  confidence.     When 
we  survey  and  sum  up  the  traits  peculiar 


2  Outline  of  tHe  Lecture 

to  man,  we  discover  a  life  essentially  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  sense ;  this  life  we  term 
the  life  of  the  Spirit.  This  spiritual  life 
which  manifests  itself  in  the  progress  of 
civilisation,  is  not  displayed  like  the  life  of 
Nature  in  the  mutual  relations  of  separate 
parts;  it  forms  a  Whole  which  is  common 
to  us  all,  and  in  which  we  realise  our  fel- 
lowship with  others.  The  life  of  the  soul 
is  in  this  field  not  merely  a  means  of  physi- 
cal self-preservation,  it  gains  an  indepen- 
dence. The  products  which  it  brings 
forth — Truth,  Goodness,  Beauty — rise  into 
a  realm  of  inwardness,  into  a  sphere  of 
reality  which  exists  for  itself  and  in  itself. 
3.  This  spiritual  life  with  its  new  con- 
tents and  relations  cannot  possibly  be  a 
creation  of  man  alone.  It  must  come  to 


Outline  of  the  Lectxire  3 

him  from  the  universe ;  it  must  form  a  new 
stage  of  reality  into  which  man,  who  first 
belongs  predominantly  to  Nature,  is  raised 
in  the  progress  of  his  life.  Whatever 
spiritual  energy  civilisation  displays, 
receives  its  genuine  content  and  impelling 
power  only  when  it  is  understood  as  a 
revelation  of  an  independent  spiritual 
world.  At  this  point,  however,  we  stand 
if  not  within  the  domain  of  Religion,  yet  at 
any  rate  on  its  threshold.  For  henceforth 
all  spiritual  creation,  all  scientific  and  artis- 
tic production,  all  moral  action,  appear  to 
be  founded  in  the  living  presence  of  a 
higher  Power.  With  these  tasks  the  indi- 
vidual with  his  uncertainty  and  weakness 
cannot  grapple.  A  higher  Power,  a  power 
of  the  Whole,  must  bear  him  on,  and  bring 


4  Outline  of  tHe  Lecture 

him  beyond  the  gropings  of  reflection  into 
the  security  of  achievement.  Accordingly 
just  on  the  heights  of  spiritual  production 
we  note  a  consciousness  of  dependence  and 
a  feeling  of  deep  gratitude.  Indeed,  the 
higher  the  spiritual  task  which  men 
attempted,  the  more  they  felt  themselves 
in  labouring  at  it  to  be  the  instruments  of 
a  higher  Power.  We  may  thus  say  that 
all  spiritual  activity,  when  traced  to  its 
roots  and  recognised  as  independent  in  con- 
trast with  petty  human  aims,  develops  a 
kind  of  religion.  This  religion  which  alone 
imparts  a  soul  to  all  culture,  we  may  call 
Universal  Religion. 

4.  But  however  important  it  is  to  dis- 
cover and  recognise  in  the  whole  expanse 
of  life  a  connection  with  religion,  this  Uni- 


Outline  of  tKe  Lecture  5 

versal  Religion  is  not  what  is  generally 
understood  by  Religion.  It  rather  accom- 
panies the  general  life  than  constitutes  a 
separate  field  from  which  it  exerts  a  pecu- 
liar influence.  We  are  thus  carried  beyond 
Universal  Religion  to  one  that  is  Charac- 
teristic. This  is  first  reached  through  the 
experiences,  the  checks,  the  shocks,  which 
human  life  .exhibits.  Spiritual  activity, 
especially  on  its  moral  side,  does  not 
advance  among  us  from  victory  to  victory ; 
it  encounters  the  most  stubborn  resistance, 
not  only  from  without  but  in  our  own  soul 
as  well.  Such  opposition  is  powerful 
enough  to  threaten  to  bring  all  life  and 
endeavour  to  a  standstill.  In  reality,  how- 
ever, life  is  not  cut  short  by  such  a  check. 
A  new  depth  is  revealed  beyond  all 


6  Oxitline  of  tHe  Lecture 

entanglement,  issuing,  however,  out  of  an 
immediate  relation  of  the  soul  to  a  life 
which  at  once  constitutes  and  transcends 
the  world — only  such  a  life  can  escape 
from  the  world's  entanglements.  Thus 
the  spiritual  life  is  roused  to  the  conception 
of  Deity,  and  in  developing  its  relation  to 
the  Divine  engenders  a  Characteristic 
Religion.  At  the  summit  of  this  develop- 
ment the  approach  of  the  Deity  to  man  is 
not  limited  to  occasional  points  of  contact ; 
it  makes  man  a  partaker  of  the  fulness  of 
his  own  life.  The  union  of  the  Divine  and 
human  nature  is  the  fundamental  truth  of 
religion,  and  its  deepest  mystery  consists 
in  the  fact  that  the  Divine  enters  into  the 
compass  of  the  Human  without  impairing 
its  Divinity.  With  this  new  phase  life  is 


Outline  of  tHe  Lecture  7 

completely  renewed  and  elevated.  Man 
becomes  immediately  conscious  of  the 
infinite  and  eternal,  of  that  within  him 
which  transcends  the  world.  For  the  first 
time  the  love  of  God  becomes  the  ruling 
motive  of  his  life,  and  brings  him  into  an 
inner  relation  with  the  whole  scope  of 
reality.  But  while  this  Characteristic 
Religion  unveils  new  deeps  in  life,  it  must 
still  remain  within  the  sphere  of  human 
experience,  and  must  in  particular  seek  a 
friendly  union  with  the  Universal  Religion. 
If  it  cuts  itself  off  and  prides  itself  on  being 
a  " specific"  religion  and  evolving  a  specific 
piety,  it  easily  sinks  into  narrowness  and 
rigidity,  and  is  even  in  danger  of  pharisaic 
conceit. 

5.     Religion  thus  understood  is  judged 


8  Outline  of  tHe  Lecture 

by  the  new  life  which  it  brings  forth.  It  is 
the  task  of  thought  to  make  this  life  clear 
and  set  it  vividly  before  our  eyes.  It 
cannot,  however,  produce  it  by  itself.  The 
true  demonstration  of  religion  is  one  of  the 
spirit  and  of  power.  The  historical  reli- 
gions, however,  have  their  essence  in  the 
life  peculiar  to  each,  in  their  unique  type 
of  spiritual  life.  This  is  what  severally 
distinguishes  them,  and  renders  one  su- 
perior to  others.  Such  life  of  course  needs 
definite  forms.  Religion  cannot  become 
an  historical  power  and  unite  men  together 
without  forming  its  own  world  of  ideas, 
and  also  without  the  practice  of  a  cultus 
which  presents  the  new  life  to  men  in 
visible  form.  But  dogmas  and  rites  have 
no  value  except  as  expressions  of  the  spir- 


Outline  of  tKe  Lecture  9 

itual  life  of  which  they  are  the  servants. 
They  must  continually  be  referred  back 
to  it  or  they  become  lifeless.  Further, 
from  this  point  of  view  it  appears  legiti- 
mate and  indeed  necessary,  whenever  great 
transformations  take  place  in  the  world 
of  thought,  to  exercise  an  impartial  critic- 
ism upon  them,  and  reshape  them  in  the 
interest  of  the  life  which  they  express. 
Such  criticism  does  not  lead  to  disintegra- 
tion when  it  proceeds  from  the  kernel  of 
religion  itself  instead  of  from  the  outside. 

6.  Such  is  the  situation  at  the  present 
day.  In  every  field  of  life  penetrating 
changes  have  set  in,  and  religion  cannot 
possibly  escape  them.  But  while  we  prac- 
tise an  open  and  honest  criticism  on  tra- 
ditional forms,  it  is  needful  to  develop  the 


io         Outline  of  tKe  Lecture 

essence  of  religion  the  more  vigorously. 
Freedom  should  not  diminish  but  increase 
its  depth.  This,  however,  will  be  possible 
if  we  bring  the  new  life  which  unfolds  itself 
in  religion,  into  full  action,  and  transform 
it  into  our  own  life.  This  will  protect  us 
against  all  paralysing  doubt,  and  give  us 
a  sure  foothold  in  the  storms  of  the  age. 
Life  and  its  activity  alone  can  produce  a 
Religion  of  Life. 


RELIGION  AND  LIFE 

NEW  problems  are  always  arising,  chal- 
lenging human  endeavour.  "Each  new 
morn  offers  new  tasks. "  Now  one  of  these 
new  tasks  undoubtedly  is  involved  in  the 
"Problem  of  Religion."  In  years  gone  by 
people  used  to  discuss  this  problem  with 
special  reference  to  the  nature  of  their 
proofs  and  the  particular  ideas  contained 
in  them.  At  the  present  day  we  must  go 
to  the  very  root  of  the  problem.  The 
danger  has  increased.  Religion  in  its 
entirety  is  being  attacked,  and  we  are  com- 
pelled to  give  evidence  of  its  absolute  justi- 
fication and  necessity.  Various  lines  have 
ii 


12  Religion  and  Life 

been  followed  out,  and  our  apology  for 
Religion,  I  believe,  must  be  based  on  Life. 
Life  and  Religion  are  things  to  be  defined 
more  closely  at  the  outset.  Life,  as  we 
take  it,  means  more  than  practical  life. 
It  is  more  than  a  mechanical  application 
of  laws  and  doctrines  to  our  daily  work. 
For  us,  life  comprehends  every  possible 
kind  of  activity  (including  the  under- 
standing), superior  in  its  entirety  to  all 
its  particular  branches. 

Religion,  on  the  other  hand,  is  not 
merely  a  belief  in  some  supreme  Power, 
nor  do  I  consider  it  to  be  the  establishment 
of  relations  of  any  kind  between  this  su- 
preme Power  and  ourselves.  It  is  an  inner 
identification  with  it  and  the  creation  of  a 
new  life  through  it.  The  problem  may  be 


Religion  and  Life  13 

therefore  defined  in  this  way:  Does  man 
in  the  wholeness  of  his  being  experience  an 
impulse  to  acknowledge  a  divine  element, 
and  if  so,  can  he  identify  himself  with  it 
and  rise  to  its  lofty  height  without  trans- 
forming his  previous  condition?  And  it  is 
to  this  form  of  the  problem  that  we  must 
turn  our  attention  first. 

Now,  even  a  slight  examination  of  the 
nature  of  life  will  show  that  it  is  more  than 
mere  existence;  that  it  contains  two  dis- 
tinct stages  of  development. 

These  stages  are — 

(a)  The  stage  of  natural  life. 
(&)  The  stage  of  spiritual  life. 

Nobody  can  deny  that  to  a  certain 
extent  we  are  creatures  of  nature.  It  is 
not  only  our  physical  organization  that 


14  Religion  and  Life 

belongs  to  this  department.  By  means 
of  sensation  and  impulse  nature  has  a 
firm  hold  on  our  souls  as  well,  and  its 
laws  sway  our  inner  life. 

In  this  stage  of  development  there  is  no 
inclination  towards  religion,  or  towards  the 
creation  of  an  "  all-comprehensive "  life, 
controlling,  as  it  were,  the  world  of  experi- 
ence from  within.  For  this  natural  life  is 
constituted  merely  of  cause  and  effect,  of 
single  organic  processes,  whose  sole  pur- 
pose it  is  to  exist  in  opposition  to  their 
environments.  There  is  no  such  thing  as 
a  Unity  pervading  and  comprehending  the 
Many,  or  causing  successive  experiences 
to  react  on  each  other  on  the  basis  of  a 
spiritual  principle.  All  the  single  elements 
and  processes  exist  alongside  of  each  other, 


Religion  and  Life  15 

forming  a  merely  causal  net  of  relations. 
But  human  life  is  more  than  that.  We 
can  rise  above  the  limitation  of  the  parti- 
cular, and  can  view  the  "  Whole  of  life." 
Our  mind  is  fit  to  deal  with  humanity  at 
large  and  with  the  very  infinitude  of  the 
universe.  The  whole  of  reality  is  our 
problem.  In  this  struggle  for  life  man 
strives  after  greater  things  than  mere  self- 
preservation.  He  is  capable  of  establish- 
ing a  communion  with  all  men  and  all 
things.  He  can  place  himself  in  their 
position.  He  can  find  his  truest  self  in 
others,  yea,  even  in  the  whole  of  the 
universe.  The  result  is  an  almost  instan- 
taneous liberation  of  his  life  from  the  lim- 
itation of  the  particular;  he  expands  and 
grows  above  himself. 


1 6  Religion  and  Life 

This  progress  beyond  himself  is  par- 
ticularly manifest  in  the  new  turn  his 
spiritual  life  now  takes,  and  in  the  altered 
nature  of  his  new  problem.  In  the  state 
of  nature,  his  mental  life  had  been  but  a 
means  and  an  instrument  of  self-preserva- 
tion. All  the  cleverness  and  acuteness  of 
animals  serve  merely  to  prolong  the  exist- 
ence of  individuals,  or  the  whole  species, 
and  mental  life  in  this  case  is  but  a  second- 
ary issue.  In  man,  however,  the  spiritual 
life  attains  to  independent  existence  in  the 
course  of  his  evolution  in  history.  It 
evolves  its  own  characteristic  contents  and 
valuations  in  the  ideas  of  the  True,  the 
Good,  and  the  Beautiful.  It  expands  and 
becomes  a  new  world  within  the  soul,  and 
in  this  new  world  each  particular  action  is 


Religion  and  Life  17 

inspired  by  the  idea  of  the  whole.  This 
unifying  idea  of  the  whole  of  life  may  be 
applied  to  each  particular  point  of  life, 
and  present  in  it. 

Another  important  distinction  ought  to 
be  made  here:  Man  in  the  state  of  mere 
nature  is  but  a  part  of  his  environment  and 
owes  everything  to  his  impressions.  In 
the  higher  stage,  however,  he  begins  to 
distinguish  subject  and  object,  holds  them 
apart,  and  finally  succeeds  in  transcending 
this  distinction  altogether.  Science,  in  a 
way,  accomplishes  this  transcendence  by 
enabling  us  to  think  ourselves  into  the 
nature  of  the  object.  The  work  of  the 
artist,  his  mode  of  creating  things  and 
looking  at  them,  has  a  similar  effect.  His 
work  of  art  represents  an  inseparable  unity 


1 8  Religion  and  Life 

of  inward  soul  and  outward  form,  of 
spiritual  and  tangible  elements.  In  almost 
every  department  we  observe  this  growth 
of  Life,  which  in  its  all-comprehensive 
nature  transcends  all  scattered  elements 
and  petty  contrasts,  and  is  best  defined  as 
"  Universal,  or  Cosmic  Life." 

We  cannot  come  to  realise  this,  however, 
without  perceiving  at  the  same  time  that 
this  new  turn  of  development  involves  a 
great  antinomy,  which  throws  us  into 
almost  intolerable  difficulties.  The  new 
life  is  there,  in  our  souls,  but  it  is,  as  yet, 
by  no  means  identical  with  our  being  and 
will.  It  seems  to  be  produced  by  us  rather 
than  to  be  a  part  of  ourselves.  The  na- 
tural limitation  of  man  remains,  he  still  is 
but  "a  series  of  single  points,"  and  lacks 


Religion  and  Life  19 

the  power  to  comprehend  and  explicate 
this  new  life.  Man  proves  to  be  no  match 
for  this  new  task  and  he  cannot  attain  to 
this  independent  "  World  of  the  Spirit." 

The  conditions  ensuing  from  this  situa- 
tion are  most  disconcerting,  as  already 
stated.  A  merely  natural  self-preserva- 
tion does  not  satisfy  him  at  all.  That  task 
he  finds  to  be  too  small.  And  yet  he  can- 
not rise  to  the  higher  stage.  The  actuating 
spirit  wanes  to  a  shadow  without  dis- 
appearing entirely.  Man  feels  an  estrange- 
ment towards  his  inward  life.  Something 
separates  his  present  existence  from  that 
"mysterious  Being/'  And,  what  is  more 
fatal  still,  this  conflict  produces  dualism 
and  ambiguity,  which  can  be  traced  in  the 
culture  and  civilisation  of  all  peoples,  and 


2O  Religion  and  Life 

which  penetrate  into  the  very  depth  of 
every  human  soul.  How  are  we  to  get  out 
of  this  conflict? 

It  is  absolutely  impossible  that  man  in 
his  limitation  should  be  able  to  break 
through  this  wall  of  separation.  Some 
higher  power  must  do  it  for  him,  and  more 
than  that,  become  part  of  his  own  life.  It 
must  transfer  him  into  this  new  world, 
the  Life  Universal,  and  identify  his  truest 
self  with  it.  A  spiritual  life  deserving 
that  name  is  not  the  activity  of  a  single 
force  but  the  realisation  of  Life  in  its 
entirety  on  this  particular  point  of  action; 
it  is  the  tangible  experience  of  being  sup- 
ported and  uplifted  by  this  divine  power. 
All  productive  geniuses  have  felt  that  most 
distinctly.  Goethe  expresses  it  in  this 


Religion  and  Life  21 

way:  "In  artistic  production  we  may 
collect  the  fagots  and  pile  them  up.  But 
to  see  them  on  fire  we  must  wait  for  the 
flash  of  lightning  from  above." 

Great  thinkers,  in  a  similar  way,  have 
experienced  this  inward  necessity,  when- 
ever they  opposed  the  current  opinions  of 
their  time.  A  statesman  like  Gladstone, 
for  example,  once  said  he  could  easily  con- 
ceive of  theoretical  doubts  of  the  existence 
of  a  higher  Being,  but  a  statesman,  stand- 
ing at  the  helm,  certainly  could  never 
experience  such  doubts.  For  without  this 
consciousness  of  being  led  by  a  higher 
Power,  the  innumerable  responsibilities  of 
his  position  would  be  more  than  human 
nature  could  bear. 

But  as  soon  as  man  acknowledges  the 


22  Religion  and  Life 

manifestation  of  this  divine  element  and 
participates  in  this  new  creation  through 
divine  power  and  grace,  life  will  be  alto- 
gether transformed.  Now  at  last  we  are 
standing  in  the  great  river  of  Life,  of  which 
we  were  allowed  to  touch  no  more  than 
the  brink  in  our  first  stage  of  development ; 
it  is  here  that  we  find  a  new  self,  our  true 
Spiritual  Life.  The  cleavage  in  the  depth 
of  our  souls  is  bridged  over  at  last.  That 
inner  estrangement,  so  often  felt,  has  dis- 
appeared and  the  whole  universe  is  now 
part  of  regenerate  man's  experience.  Now 
we  may  justly  say,  "All  things  are  yours, 
but  ye  are  God's."  Now  true  love  may  be 
developed  and  the  joys  of  life  experienced 
to  their  fullest  extent.  That  feeling  of 
isolation  disappears,  which  has  so  often 


Religion  and  Life  23 

depressed  us,  and  we  are  conscious  of  par- 
taking in  that  "inner  life"  common  to  all 
of  us.  And  this  autonomous  creation  of 
a  true  spiritual  life  is  the  great  wonder,  and 
the  only  certain  evidence  on  behalf  of 
religion. 

This  kind  of  religion,  the  source  of  all 
spiritual  life,  we  may  venture  to  call 
"Universal  Religion." 

Without  this  Religion  no  true  civilisation 
is  possible.  A  civilisation  declining  all 
contact  with  a  supernatural  life  and  refus- 
ing to  establish  those  mysterious  "inner 
relations"  gradually  degenerates  into  a 
mere  human  civilisation,  and  becomes  a 
Kultur  komodie  (parody  of  civilisation), 
as  Pestalozzi  has  called  it. 

The  life  of  every  individual  person  is 


24  Religion  and  Life 

affected  by  this  "Problem  of  Religion." 
I  cannot  conceive  of  the  development  of  a 
powerful  personality,  a  deep-rooted  and 
profound  mind,  or  a  character  rising  above 
this  world,  without  his  having  experienced 
this  divine  life.  And  as  surely  as  we  can 
create  in  ourselves  a  life  in  contrast  to  pure 
nature,  growing  by  degrees  and  extending 
to  the  heights  of  the  True,  the  Good,  and 
the  Beautiful,  we  may  have  the  same  assur- 
ance of  that  religion  called  Universal. 

But  this  great  turning-point  in  our  devel- 
opment naturally  brings  us  into  contact 
with  new  difficulties  and  grave  problems. 
We  expect  from  a  religious  point  of  view 
that  the  Divine  element  should  be  omni- 
potent in  this  world,  that  it  should  expel 
the  powers  of  darkness,  accomplish  the 


Religion  and  Life  25 

definite  victory  of  good  over  evil,  and  turn 
this  world  of  sensible  reality  into  a  world 
of  reason.  This  is  by  no  means  the  case. 
Our  experience  soon  tells  us  that  sorrow 
and  suffering,  weakness  and  wickedness, 
are  still  all-powerful.  For  nature  seems 
to  take  little  notice  of  our  spiritual  interests 
and  purposes:  earthquakes,  floods,  and 
tempests  are  continually  nipping  the  buds 
of  life,  and  we  are  every  one  of  us  exposed 
to  these  crude  powers  of  destruction.  Of 
a  still  graver  nature  are  the  antinomies  of 
our  inner  life.  "The  Good"  fails  to  pre- 
dominate in  human  nature,  spiritual  pow- 
ers are  employed  for  very  unspiritual  ends, 
and  a  kind  of  egotism  arises,  such  as  the 
world  has  never  seen  before,  opposing  the 
whole  of  life  and  making  it  a  means  to 


26  Religion  and  Life 

an  end  rather  than  an  end  in  itself;  an 
egotism  which  delights  in  opposing  "the 
Good,"  and  warring  against  the  Divine 
element.  How  will  our  universal  religion 
fit  in  with  this  power  of  evil?  Are  we  not 
inevitably  led  to  doubt  the  power  and 
reality  of  the  Divine? 

This  problem  has  occupied  man's  mind 
for  thousands  of  years,  and  continually 
disturbed  and  harassed  it.  Many  solu- 
tions have  been  attempted,  of  which  the 
following  are  more  or  less  typical.  Optim- 
ism tries  to  explain  away  evil  by  adopting 
a  standard  of  criticism  broad  enough  even 
to  allow  the  power  of  evil  as  being  in  har- 
mony with  a  higher  order  of  the  universe. 
But  this  solution  of  the  problem  of  evil  is 
impossible  for  the  simple  reason  that  we 


Religion  and   Life  27 

are  not  merely  reflective,  but  sensitive  and 
active  beings  in  this  world-process,  and 
therefore  cannot  simply  "  reason "  suffer- 
ings out  of  the  way. 

Stoicism  is  another  of  these  typical 
attempts.  It  found  the  purpose  and 
greatness  of  life  in  keeping  suffering  and 
passion  at  a  distance,  and  by  crushing  the 
emotional  side  of  our  nature.  Fate  has 
placed  us  in  this  or  that  dangerous  and 
exposed  position.  In  spite  of  the  darkness 
around  us  we  are  to  persevere  like  brave 
soldiers.  Alas,  by  crushing  the  emo- 
tional side,  the  virtues  of  love  and  char- 
ity were  exiled  and  an  isolation  of  the 
soul  ensued.  Besides,  to  persevere  in 
the  battle  of  life  is  no  satisfactory  ideal 
of  life.  We  must  know  for  what  the 


28  Religion  and  Life 

battle  is  fought,  to  what  results  it  will 
lead,  and  whether  we  shall  achieve  "new 
things." 

Another  typical  solution,  and  to  my 
mind  the  only  remaining  one,-  lies  in  the 
narrowing  down  of  "  Universal  Religion " 
to  "Characteristic  Religion." 

By  "Characteristic  Religion"  I  mean  a 
religion  which  allows  of  conflict,  suffering, 
and  sin,  as  opening  new  doors,  leading  into 
greater  depths,  and  creating  a  life  of  pure 
"inwardness,"  a  life  drawing  its  strength 
from  the  relation  of  an  individual  soul  to 
the  "Spring  of  all  Life." 

It  is  often  said  that  "Suffering  makes  a 
man  better  and  refines  his  nature."  But 
that  is  not  the  inevitable  consequence. 
Experience  proves  that  people  often 


Religion  and  Life  29 

become  narrow,  petty,  and  envious  through 
suffering. 

Sorrow  in  itself  does  not  help  man;  but 
under  its  stress  we  may  develop  and  gain  a 
new  life,  which  may  mean  the  opening  up  of 
a  divine  life,  given  by  the  grace  of  a  divine 
power  outside  of  us,  creating  in  us  a  new 
centre  of  spiritual  life,  lifting  us  above  ma- 
terial toil,  and  imbuing  us  with  an  inward 
power  transcending  the  world  of  things. 

We  Germans  have  the  proverb,  "A  man 
is  worth  more  than  his  work."  This 
"more,"  however,  is  only  attained  by 
means  of  a  Characteristic  Religion.  On 
that  basis  we  can  understand  the  great 
saying  of  Jesus,  "What  shall  a  man  be 
profited,  if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and 
forfeit  his  soul?" 


30  Religion  and  Life 

I  have  not  claimed  that  in  this  discovery 
of  the  new  depths  of  life  our  old  conflicts 
and  antinomies  disappear.  Darkness 
there  still  is ;  but  our  struggle  is  not  in  vain, 
if  we  gain  a  new  life  through  it,  and  are 
born  a  second  time.  This  struggle  through 
harsh  negation  to  a  cheerful  "yea,"  this 
ascent  above  our  suffering  through  acknow- 
ledging it,  is  the  fundamental  truth  of 
Christianity  as  I  understand  it.  Through 
developing  this  idea  and  working  it  out 
fully  it  has  attained  its  peculiar  charac- 
teristics. Only  on  the  basis  of  this  con- 
ception could  it  make  the  cross  its  symbol 
and  carry  it  victoriously  through  the 
world.  This  fundamental  truth  is  beauti- 
fully expressed  by  the  greatest  German 
poet: 


Religion  and  Life  31 

"Those  who  have  not  understood 

'  Die,  and  rise  to-morrow!' 
They  are  but  as  passing  shades 
In  this  world  of  sorrow." 

And  Luther  powerfully  puts  it  thus: 
1 1  That  I  call  spiritual  power,  which  can 
remain  erect  in  the  midst  of  our  enemies 
and  show  its  strength  in  a  state  of  humili- 
ation. And  its  very  essence  is  strength 
in  weakness,  enabling  us  to  gain  salvation 
in  all  conditions,  and  compelling  death, 
yea,  even  the  cross,  to  further  our  salva- 
tion and  yield  life.M 

That  is  what  I  believe  to  be  the  charac- 
ter of  Christianity.  It  is  the  preservation 
of  life  in  sharpest  contradiction  with  the 
world.  It  is  a  triumphant  progress  to 
cheerful  affirmation  in  spite  of  the  spirit 


32  Religion  and  Life 

of  negation.  It  is  the  inward  extinction  of 
sorrow  through  the  creation  of  a  higher  life, 
and  persists  in  growing  through  all  the 
turmoil  of  strife  and  suffering.  Human 
life  may  thus  be  said  to  set  itself  a  noble 
task  and  to  develop  spiritually. 

Now  at  last  a  true  "  world-history " 
begins,  for  every  individual  soul  can  now 
make  its  own  history.  Classical  literature 
in  all  its  variety  and  profound  value  con- 
tains not  one  " history  of  a  soul."  The 
memoirs  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  though  full 
of  noble  reflections,  contain  no  such  testi- 
mony. It  is  the  imperishable  merit  of  St. 
Augustine  to  have  written  the  first  literary 
biography  of  a  soul  in  his  Confessions. 
Such  a  biography  could  only  be  of  value 
and  interest  in  a  time  when  people  began 


Religion  and  Life  33 

to  hold  with  Luther  "that  not  for  the 
price  of  the  whole  world  may  we  lose  one 
single  soul,  however  humble." 

This  new  life  with  all  its  contrasts  and 
rich  inner  developments  in  spite  of  all  ex- 
ternal vexation,  cannot  be  described  ade- 
quately in  words.  The  artist  must  do  that 
for  us,  the  religious  poet,  and  especially 
the  composer  of  sacred  music,  of  music  like 
that  of  Bach  and  Handel.  But  this  acqui- 
sition is  of  " world-historical"  importance, 
creating  a  spiritual  reality  never  dreamt 
of  before,  and  proving  Christianity  to  be 
the  religion  of  all  religions  in  the  past  his- 
tory of  this  world.  Not  that  we  under- 
stand things  better  now.  The  elements 
of  darkness  may  be  as  prevalent  as  ever. 
But  with  darkness  we  have  gained  depth, 


34  Religion  and  Life 

and  there  are  events  in  our  soul's  life  at 
present  which  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the 
course  of  the  future. 

Fundamental  truths,  however,  standing 
above  the  change  of  time,  are  constantly 
present  " monitors."  As  soon  as  Religion 
means  the  sounding  of  new  depths  and  the 
production  of  a  new  reality,  we  have  passed 
beyond  the  sphere  of  Intellectualism, 
which  would  fain  make  religion  a  cosmo- 
logy. But  we  are  just  as  unwilling  to  make 
religion  a  purely  emotional  matter,  reject- 
ing the  undeniable  realities  of  human  exist- 
ence and  giving  full  sway  to  subjectivism. 
True  religion,  with  its  new  reality,  must 
form  a  characteristic  sphere  of  life  for  itself 
and  produce  a  characteristic  community  of 
men,  seeking  its  most  active  realization 


Religion  and  Life  35 

in  the  very  establishment  of  this  com- 
munity. And  here  again  we  meet  with 
new  conflicts  arising  out  of  the  relations 
between  Divine  and  human  elements. 
Certainly  the  new  life  is  altogether  a  gift 
of  God.  The  Divine  does  not  conform 
and  adapt  itself  to  human  standards. 
All  human  "  littleness  "  is  broken  up  in  the 
process  of  regeneration;  man  is  received 
into  the  fulness  of  divine  life  and  partakes 
of  its  infinitude.  But  all  the  same,  the 
formation  of  the  new  life  cannot  take  place 
without  human  endeavour,  and  this  power 
is  roused  in  the  struggle  of  life.  I  admit 
that  man  can  never  express  the  Divine 
adequately.  "All  passing  things  are  but 
symbols"  (Goethe's  Faust}  is  a  truth  for 
all  times.  We  cannot  get  beyond  the 


36  Religion  and  Life 

guest  and  search  for  truth.  We  may 
demand,  however,  that  the  Divine  should 
be  expressed  in  the  relatively  highest  forms, 
that  we  should  always  try  to  find  the  most 
adequate  symbol. 

Thus  we  may  account  for  changes  and 
varieties,  and  it  may  be  that  the  process  of 
human  history  renders  certain  symbols 
inadequate,  which  in  times  past  were  con- 
sidered perfect.  But  as  soon  as  we  become 
aware  of  such  a  cleavage  between  the 
essence  of  Religion  and  its  latest  rendering 
in  symbol,  it  is  our  most  sacred  duty  to 
bridge  it  over  and  provide  a  more  adequate 
rendering. 

No  doubt  we  are  aware  of  such  a  cleav- 
age at  the  present  day.  In  order  to  pre- 
serve Christianity  in  all  its  strength  and 


Religion  and  Life  37 

beauty  we  must  find  new  forms  and  sym- 
bols for  it.  For  since  it  first  came  into 
existence  and  received  its  traditional  form, 
a  tremendous  change  has  taken  place. 
Our  world  is  larger  than  the  world  of  those 
days,  with  regard  to  our  conceptions  of 
nature  as  well  as  those  of  human  history. 
Many  forms  are  now  but  anthropomorph- 
isms which  two  thousand  years  ago 
satisfied  the  very  best  of  minds.  And 
what  was  considered  in  those  times  to  be 
a  pure  expression  or  reflection  of  the  Divine 
in  Christianity,  is  now  verging  dangerously 
near  the  mythological  element.  Let  us 
not  forget  that  Christianity  entered  into 
history  at  a  time  when  the  old  world  was  in 
a  state  of  resignation  and  degeneration, 
when  people  took  the  sorrows  and  evils  of 


38  Religion  and  Life 

their  days  as  a  kind  of  inevitable  destiny. 
This  is  vividly  illustrated  by  the  fact  that 
nobody  ventured  to  combat  the  irration- 
ality of  their  social  conditions,  such  as 
poverty  and  slavery,  and  that  their  moral- 
ity was  of  a  purely  passive  nature. 

Our  age,  however,  has  inspired  us  with 
wonderful  self-confidence  and  manly  vig- 
our. We  are  convinced  that  there  are 
great  possibilities  in  man.  We  are  chal- 
lenged to  throw  in  the  whole  of  our  strength 
and  labour  in  uprooting  misery  and  want. 
We  desire  to  make  human  life  more  rational. 
And  in  the  organisation  of  religious  and 
devotional  life  we  must  needs  demand  more 
individual  liberty  and  greater  possibilities 
of  free  development  than  the  ancients 
required.  They  thought  but  little  of  the 


Religion  and  Life  39 

strength  of  individuals  and  attempted 
chiefly  to  create  a  powerful  organisation 
and  authority,  taking  all  responsibility 
from  the  shoulders  of  the  individual  and 
preserving  him  from  all  manner  of  doubt 
and  uncertainty.  And,  finally,  we  are  no 
longer  satisfied  with  a  traditional  cult 
embodying  the  Divine  in  more  or  less 
tangible  forms.  The  ideas  of  spiritual  and 
material,  of  supernatural  and  physical, 
were  not  held  apart  in  ancient  minds  with 
the  precision  of  to-day.  They  believed 
that  the  Divine  must  needs  manifest  him- 
self in  tangible  matter,  as  the  early  teach- 
ings of  the  Eucharist  show.  We  are 
poignantly  conscious  of  the  irremediable 
contrast  between  Spirit  and  Matter  and 
resent  the  magical  element,  which  seems  to 


40  Religion  and  Life 

us  to  impair  the  purely  religious.  Purely 
religious  it  was  to  them.  But  we  are  inevi- 
tably confronted  with  new  problems,  which 
can  only  be  solved  in  a  state  of  liberty,  of 
absolute  freedom  for  all  minds. 

In  taking  up  the  task  of  remodelling 
Christianity  (merely  in  its  forms)  we  are 
acting  on  behalf  of  Religion.  We  are  not 
criticising  for  the  sake  of  criticism,  but  are 
longing  to  come  to  an  everlasting  "yea." 
We  do  not  want  less,  but  more  of  religion. 
New  social  problems  are  awaiting  their 
solution.  Serious  inroads  are  made  on 
Christianity  and  what  is  of  still  graver 
importance,  the  whole  of  our  people  are 
making  them.  And  I  assure  you  that 
Christianity  can  only  grapple  with  these 
difficulties  by  absorbing  and  employing 


Religion  and  Life  41 

all  the  results  and  fruits  of  the  "world- 
historical"  work  of  humanity  at  large. 
And  its  best  contents,  its  very  life-blood, 
can  only  become  a  possession  of  the  civi- 
lised world  if  it  adapts  its  forms  and  sym- 
bols to  the  conditions  of  our  time.  It  must 
become  altogether  a  religion  of  the  moving 
and  flowing  present.  Nothing  obsolete 
and  antique  can  be  allowed  to  remain  in  it, 
and  it  must  unite  and  focus  all  our  modern 
intellectual  and  spiritual  aspirations.  It 
must  excise  all  the  pusillanimous  and  petty 
elements  of  man's  nature.  In  this  reform- 
ing process  we  must  carefully  avoid  putting 
our  modern  interpretation  into  old  things. 
That  leads  to  unhealthy  results  and  runs 
counter  to  the  saying  of  the  greatest  of 
the  Greek  Fathers:  "In  the  soul  of  a  truly 


42  Religion,  and  Life 

religious  man  all  elements  must  be  abso- 
lutely genuine.'/ 

Those  standing  at  a  greater  distance  may 
object  to  this  spiritualisation  of  religion, 
as  being  nothing  more  than  a  process  of 
dilution  and  evaporation,  at  any  rate  a 
surrender  of  the  best.  But  may  I  be 
allowed  to  say  that  every  single  attempt 
in  history  to  reform  religion  and  spiritu- 
alise the  symbols,  by  rejecting  its  more 
tangible  elements,  has  been  regarded  by 
the  adherents  of  sacred  tradition  as  a 
perilous  process  of  dissolution.  The  early 
Christians  were  called  Atheists  because 
they  rejected  all  images  of  their  godhead, 
and  at  the  present  day  Catholics  believe 
that  the  Protestant  religion  sadly  lacks 
tangible  elements  of  worship. 


Religion  and  Life  43 

But  as  a  matter  of  fact  Reality  is  to  be 
found  not  outside  of  the  world  of  the  Spirit, 
but  in  it.  And  the  sooner  we  become 
aware  of  this  in  religion,  and  the  sooner  it 
seeks  contact  with  the  whole  of  life,  casting 
its  anchor  in  the  harbour  of  life,  the  sooner 
will  it  appeal  to  humanity  and  counteract 
the  workings  of  scepticism. 

Is  it  not  true  that  we  particularly  want 
a  religion  fresh  and  new-born,  bringing 
forth  fruit  of  all  kinds?  I  admit  that  the 
waters  of  the  surface  are  all  against  religion. 
But  the  undercurrent  of  man's  soul  is  all  in 
its  favour.  Modern  culture  has  succeeded 
on  many  lines.  But  it  has  also  given  us 
many  a  grave  problem,  for  which  it  is  no 
match. 

This  yearning  and  craving  amid  the 


44  Religion  and  Life 

unwholesomeness  of  a  secular,  merely 
human  culture,  this  intolerable  shallowness 
of  life,  which  cannot  reach  beyond  its  cir- 
cuit, all  the  folly  and  madness  of  purely 
human  activities  and  aims,  this  rush  to  and 
fro,  without  love  and  without  soul — how  do 
you  account  for  them?  And  on  the  other 
side  the  profound  longing  for  greater  depths, 
for  greater  stability  and  permanence! 
This  yearning  to  partake  of  a  higher  life 
than  that  which  the  process  of  natural 
and  social  self-preservation  will  allow  us! 
Believe  me,  this  incessantly  growing 
impulse,  running  through  all  nations  and 
all  civilisations  of  the  East  and  West,  is  in 
itself  a  proof  that  powers  are  at  work  in  our 
souls,  of  which  our  critics  will  have  to  give 
account.  Pascal  justly  remarked:  "You 


Religion  and  Life  45 

would  not  have  sought  me,  had  I  not  been 
there  already/' 

Of  course,  we  are  fully  aware  of  the  fact 
that  we  are  seekers,  that  our  achievements 
are  not  perfect  yet.  Butwe  are  convinced  at 
the  same  time  that  we  are  serving  a  great  end , 
which  is  not  the  creation  of  our  own  brains, 
but  set  up  for  us  in  the  process  of  evolution. 

And  as  to  the  attempt  to  reform  Christ- 
ian truths,  and  clothe  them  in  new  symbols, 
let  us  remember  what  the  wise  Gamaliel 
said  (Acts  v:  38,  39):  "And  now  I  say 
unto  you,  Refrain  from  these  men,  and  let 
them  alone;  for  if  this  counsel  or  this  work 
be  of  men,  it  will  be  overthrown ;  but  if  it  is 
of  God,  ye  will  not  be  able  to  overthrow 
them;  lest  haply  ye  be  found  even  to  be 
fighting  against  God." 


46  Religion  and  Life 

Let  us  therefore  work  cheerfully,  every 
man  in  his  own  place  and  way ;  all,  however, 
supported  by  the  firm  conviction  that  we 
are  partakers  of  the  work  of  the  Spirit, 
and  that  nothing  can  be  in  vain,  if  it  has 
been  done  with  a  view  to  our  great  end 
and  in  the  faithful  fulfilment  of  our  task. 


Jl  Selection  from  the 
Catalogue  of 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Complete  Catalogue  sent 
on  application 


By  Rudolf  Eucken 

Awarded  Noble  Prize,  19O8 

Senior  Professor  of  Philosophy  in  the  University  of  Jena 

The  Truth  of  Religion 

Translated  by  W.  Tudor  Jones,  Ph.D. 

Theological  Translation  Library,  New  Series 
Octavo.     #3.00  net.    By  mail,  #3.25 

It  is  written  in  an  inquiring  spirit  to  elucidate  the  problem  of 
religion  in  its  relation  to  all  the  most  distinctive  features  of  our 
modern-day  life.  The  book  is  addressed  "  to  all  those."  to  quote 
Eucken's  own  words,  "  who,  like  myself,  feel  that  they  cannot 
endure  any  longer  the  shallows  in  which  the  vitality  of  man's^  spirit 
is  being  lost  at  present,  and  who  are  determined,  in  spite  of 
all  that  is  superficial  in  contemporary  life,  to  share  the  quest  for 
deepening  and  revival."  The  book  is  divided  into  five  parts,  the 
headings  of  which  are:  First,  introductory;  second,  the  fundamental 
basis  of  the  universal  religion;  third,  the  opposition  to  religion; 
fourth,  the  religion  that  is  religious;  fifth,  Christianity  and  modern 
life. 

The  Life  of  the  Spirit 

An  Introduction  to  Philosophy 
Translated  by  F.  L.  Pogson,  M.A. 

Second  Edition  with  Introductory  Note  by  the  Author. 

Second  Impression.     Crown  Theological  Library. 

Cr.  Svo.    #1.50  net.     By  mail,  $1.65 

Professor  Eucken's  philosophy  is  a  philosophy  of  life.  It  is  a 
philosophy  of  reality  as  well.  It  treats  of  the  sources  of  man's 
strength,  and  the  meaning  and  purpose  of  his  spiritual  endeavor. 
And  can  there  be  anything  more  real  than  the  activity  of  a  life  that 
has  consciously  realized  the  true  sources  of  its  power  and  the  goal 
of  its  ultimate  aspiration  ? 

New  York         Q.  P.  Putnam's  Sons        London 


Crown  Theological 
Library 

This  series  has  been  instituted  to  present  a  re- 
ligious literature  dealing  with  modern  difficulties; 
the  thinking  man  needs  books  on  a  subject  so  vital 
as  that  of  religious  thought,  which  take  into  ac- 
count all  that  is  most  valuable  and  trustworthy  in 
modern  research.  The  volumes  comprising  the 
11  Crown  Theological  Library  "  have  been  selected 
with  a  view  of  meeting  the  religious  questionings  of 
the  present  age,  and  each  contribution  has  been 
prepared  by  an  acknowledged  authority  on  the  sub- 
ject with  which  it  deals.  The  standpoint  of  the 
series  is  at  once  reverent  and  liberal.  Its  object  is 
to  combine  respect  for  religion  with  respect  for 
historic  and  scientific  truth,  and  to  present  a  series 
of  studies  on  the  great  problems  of  human  life  which 
are  free  from  all  dogmatic  prepossessions. 

Volumes  range  in  price  from  $1.25  net  to 
$1.75  net 

Complete  list  of  titles  sent  upon  application 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

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